Mario: Twenty Five Years of Gaming Success

Long before the Sony PS3, the Nintendo Wii and the Xbox, and even before the computer games were divided into genres like RPGs, TPS, Strategy, Sports and Simulation, was the single most famous and successful genre of computer games - the arcade. While arcade games were considered something out of this world when they were first made out, there is a greater understanding of this 'arcade culture'.

Arcade games had graphics, interface and storyline. Maybe the immense popularity of such arcade games lied in their simplicity, there have been many arcade games that just did not work because of their complex controls, while some arcade games with a complex control and storyline have been the herald of computer gaming as we know today.

Possibly the most popular arcade game ever to hit the stores was Mario. Mario was a simple game in which the central character of the same name had to save a princess from the various dangerous situations she was placed in by the villain. Needless to say, Mario has undergone a lot of changes and upheavals in his twenty five years of existence.

The game Mario had a lot of novelty for players. The violence factor too was very less in Mario, with one or more options available to Mario to clear the level apart from just shooting down his enemies. Mario may also be one of the arcade world's most detailed character. Simply put, Mario was the game character that introduced computer gaming to many people in the world today. Other important and successful games during this time were Contra, Spartan and a couple more.

Mario is also one of the few arcade game characters who have had a stint of life in films and television. A film was made on the Mario brothers - popularly known as Mario Bros., but was not received well by the critics as well as the general public.